Samuel L Jackson has compared the discrimination Muslims now face in the US to that which African-Americans have, calling Muslim Americans “the new black kids in America”.
The actor was speaking about diversity in the film industry and in modern day America at the Dubai International Film Festival when he brought up the injustices that Muslims now face in his home country triggered by the rise of Islamophobia in the western world.
“Muslims are getting arrested like black kids get arrested, Muslim Americans are the new black kids in America,” he said according to the Hollywood Reporter. “Suspect as we are for the dominant culture, people don’t understand them. People perceive them as a threat before even saying hello. But the Muslim community is present in our country. They are a vital part of our country and interestingly enough they have less crime, more education and their businesses thrive more than any other group in the country.
“You tell people in the Rust Belt that, and they’re like, ‘Get out of here’.”
The Rust Belt refers to the region of the US which encompasses the MidWest states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana which are dubbed the term after its once powerful industrial sector. Many of the states are swing states and voted to elect Donald Trump in the recent election, a candidate who previously called for the banning of all Muslim immigration to the US.
Jackson, who found himself embroiled in "beef" with Mr Trump during the election campaign, said his agent would not allow him to answer any questions on the President-elect during the talk but he did say he is not surprised or confused by the result.
“I am a product of the segregated South,” he said. “I was a part of apartheid. There were things I couldn’t do. They inform who I am but not how I act.
“I understand something about my country that others don’t understand. Like what just happened during that election, I get it in another kind of way. I’m not confused or shocked by it. I get it, I lived in it during another time. I understand who those people are who want to make America great again.”
